A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring habitation facilities. The purpose of maintaining a space station varies depending on the program. Most often space stations have been research stations, but they have also served military or commercial uses, such as hosting space tourists.
Space stations have been hosting the only continuous presence of humans in space. The first space station was Salyut 1 (1971), hosting the first crew, of the ill-fated Soyuz 11. Consecutively space stations have been operated since Skylab (1973) and occupied since 1987 with the Salyut successor Mir. Uninterrupted occupation has been sustained since the operational transition from the Mir to the International Space Station (ISS), with its first occupation in 2000 [1] .
Currently there are two fully operational space stations – the ISS and China's Tiangong Space Station (TSS), which have been occupied since October 2000 with Expedition 1 and since June 2022 with Shenzhou 14. The highest number of people at the same time on one space station has been 13, first achieved with the eleven day docking to the ISS of the 127th Space Shuttle mission in 2009. The record for most people on all space stations at the same time has been 17, first on May 30, 2023, with 11 people on the ISS and 6 on the TSS. [2]
Space stations are most often modular, featuring docking ports, through which they are built and maintained, allowing the joining or movement of modules and the docking of other spacecrafts for the exchange of people, supplies and tools. While space stations generally do not leave their orbit, they do feature thrusters for station keeping.
The first mention of anything resembling a space station occurred in Edward Everett Hale's 1868 "The Brick Moon". [3] The first to give serious, scientifically grounded consideration to space stations were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Hermann Oberth about two decades apart in the early 20th century. [4]
In 1929, Herman Potočnik's The Problem of Space Travel was published, the first to envision a "rotating wheel" space station to create artificial gravity. [3] Conceptualized during the Second World War, the "sun gun" was a theoretical orbital weapon orbiting Earth at a height of 8,200 kilometres (5,100 mi). No further research was ever conducted. [5] In 1951, Wernher von Braun published a concept for a rotating wheel space station in Collier's Weekly , referencing Potočnik's idea. However, development of a rotating station was never begun in the 20th century. [4]
The first human flew to space and concluded the first orbit on April 12, 1961, with Vostok 1.
The Apollo program had in its early planning instead of a lunar landing a crewed lunar orbital flight and an orbital laboratory station in orbit of Earth, at times called Project Olympus , as two different possible program goals, until the Kennedy administration sped ahead and made the Apollo program focus on what was originally planned to come after it, the lunar landing. The Project Olympus space station, or orbiting laboratory of the Apollo program, was proposed as an in-space unfolded structure with the Apollo command and service module docking. [6] While never realized, the Apollo command and service module would perform docking maneuvers and eventually become a lunar orbiting module which was used for station-like purposes.
But before that the Gemini program paved the way and achieved the first space rendezvous (undocked) with Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 in 1965. Subsequently in 1966 Neil Armstrong performed on Gemini 8 the first ever space docking, while in 1967 Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 were the first spacecrafts that docked automatically.
In January 1969, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 performed the first docked, but not internal, crew transfer, and in March, Apollo 9 performed the first ever internal transfer of astronauts between two docked spaceships.
In 1971, the Soviet Union developed and launched the world's first space station, Salyut 1. [7] The Almaz and Salyut series were eventually joined by Skylab, Mir , and Tiangong-1 and Tiangong-2. The hardware developed during the initial Soviet efforts remains in use, with evolved variants comprising a considerable part of the ISS, orbiting today. Each crew member stays aboard the station for weeks or months but rarely more than a year.
Early stations were monolithic designs that were constructed and launched in one piece, generally containing all their supplies and experimental equipment. A crew would then be launched to join the station and perform research. After the supplies had been consumed, the station was abandoned. [7]
The first space station was Salyut 1, which was launched by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The early Soviet stations were all designated "Salyut", but among these, there were two distinct types: civilian and military. The military stations, Salyut 2, Salyut 3, and Salyut 5, were also known as Almaz stations. [8]
The civilian stations Salyut 6 and Salyut 7 were built with two docking ports, which allowed a second crew to visit, bringing a new spacecraft with them; the Soyuz ferry could spend 90 days in space, at which point it needed to be replaced by a fresh Soyuz spacecraft. [9] This allowed for a crew to man the station continually. The American Skylab (1973–1979) was also equipped with two docking ports, like second-generation stations, but the extra port was never used. The presence of a second port on the new stations allowed Progress supply vehicles to be docked to the station, meaning that fresh supplies could be brought to aid long-duration missions. This concept was expanded on Salyut 7, which "hard docked" with a TKS tug shortly before it was abandoned; this served as a proof of concept for the use of modular space stations. The later Salyuts may reasonably be seen as a transition between the two groups. [8]
Unlike previous stations, the Soviet space station Mir had a modular design; a core unit was launched, and additional modules, generally with a specific role, were later added. This method allows for greater flexibility in operation, as well as removing the need for a single immensely powerful launch vehicle. Modular stations are also designed from the outset to have their supplies provided by logistical support craft, which allows for a longer lifetime at the cost of requiring regular support launches. [10]
The ISS is divided into two main sections, the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the US Orbital Segment (USOS). The first module of the ISS, Zarya, was launched in 1998. [11]
The Russian Orbital Segment's "second-generation" modules were able to launch on Proton, fly to the correct orbit, and dock themselves without human intervention. [12] Connections are automatically made for power, data, gases, and propellants. The Russian autonomous approach allows the assembly of space stations prior to the launch of crew.
The Russian "second-generation" modules are able to be reconfigured to suit changing needs. As of 2009, RKK Energia was considering the removal and reuse of some modules of the ROS on the Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex after the end of mission is reached for the ISS. [13] However, in September 2017, the head of Roscosmos said that the technical feasibility of separating the station to form OPSEK had been studied, and there were now no plans to separate the Russian segment from the ISS. [14]
In contrast, the main US modules launched on the Space Shuttle and were attached to the ISS by crews during EVAs. Connections for electrical power, data, propulsion, and cooling fluids are also made at this time, resulting in an integrated block of modules that is not designed for disassembly and must be deorbited as one mass. [15]
Axiom Station is a planned commercial space station that will begin as a single module docked to the ISS. Axiom Space gained NASA approval for the venture in January 2020. The first module, the Payload Power Transfer Module (PPTM), is expected to be launched to the ISS no earlier than 2027. [16] PPTM will remain at the ISS until the launch of Axiom's Habitat One (Hab-1) module about one year later, after which it will detach from the ISS to join with Hab-1. [16]
China's first space laboratory, Tiangong-1 was launched in September 2011. [17] The uncrewed Shenzhou 8 then successfully performed an automatic rendezvous and docking in November 2011. The crewed Shenzhou 9 then docked with Tiangong-1 in June 2012, followed by the crewed Shenzhou 10 in 2013.[ citation needed ]
According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, Tiangong-1 reentered over the South Pacific Ocean, northwest of Tahiti, on 2 April 2018 at 00:15 UTC. [18] [19]
A second space laboratory Tiangong-2 was launched in September 2016, while a plan for Tiangong-3 was merged with Tiangong-2. [20] The station made a controlled reentry on 19 July 2019 and burned up over the South Pacific Ocean. [21]
The Tiangong Space Station (Chinese :天宫; pinyin :Tiāngōng; lit.'Heavenly Palace'), the first module of which was launched on 29 April 2021, [22] is in low Earth orbit, 340 to 450 kilometres above the Earth at an orbital inclination of 42° to 43°. Its planned construction via 11 total launches across 2021–2022 was intended to extend the core module with two laboratory modules, capable of hosting up to six crew. [23] [24]
These space stations have been announced by their host entity and are currently in planning, development or production. The launch date listed here may change as more information becomes available.
Name | Entity | Program | Crew size | Launch date | Planned Pressurized Volume | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Haven-1 | Vast | Private | 4 | August 2025 [25] | 80 m3 [26] | "Scheduled to be the world's first commercial space station, Haven-1 and subsequent human spaceflight missions will accelerate access to space exploration" [27] |
LIFE Pathfinder | Sierra Space | Private | TBD | 2026 | 285 m3 [28] | "Before offering LIFE for Orbital Reef, though, the company is proposing to launch a standalone “pathfinder” version of LIFE as soon as the end of 2026". [29] |
StarMax | Gravitics | Private | TBD | 2026 [30] | 400 m3 (14,126 cu ft) | "The StarMax module provides up to 400 cubic meters of usable habitable volume - nearly half the volume of the International Space Station in one module." |
Axiom Station | Axiom Space | Private | TBD | 2027 [31] | ~666.8 m3 (~23,548 cu ft) | Private, free flying space station for commercial tourism and science activities. |
Lunar Gateway | NASA ESA CSA JAXA | Artemis | 4 | 2027 [32] | ≥125 m3 (4,400 cu ft) | Intended to serve as a science platform and as a staging area for the lunar landings of NASA's Artemis program and follow-on human mission to Mars. |
Orbital Reef | Blue Origin Sierra Space | Private | 10 | 2027 [33] | 830 m3 (29,000 cu ft) | "Commercial station in LEO for research, industrial, international, and commercial customers." |
Russian Orbital Service Station | Roscosmos | Russia's next generation space station. | TBD | 2027 [34] | With Russia leaving the ISS programme sometime after 2024, Roscosmos announced this new space station in April 2021 as the replacement for that program. | |
Bharatiya Antariksha Station [35] | ISRO | Indian Human Spaceflight Programme | 3 | ~2028 [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] | ISRO chairman K. Sivan announced in 2019 that India will not join the International Space Station, but will instead build a space station of its own. [40] of 52 Tonne Mass [41] It is intended to be completed 5–7 years after the conclusion of the Gaganyaan program. [42] | |
Starlab | NanoRacks Voyager Space Airbus MDA Space Mitsubishi Corporation | Private | 4 | 2028 [43] | ~450 m3 (~15892 cu ft) | "Commercial platform supporting a business designed to enable science, research, and manufacturing for customers around the world." While originally Lockheed Martin was included in the project, as of 2024, it appears their primary role has been filled by Airbus, to provide the main habitat for the station. [44] As of 2024, they are no longer listed as a partner on Starlab's website. [45] |
Haven-2 | Vast | Private | 12 | 2028 | 1160 m3 | A planned successor to Haven-1. Vast CEO Max Hoat expressed hope that the first module of Haven-2 will be launched in 2028 if the station will be approved during the second phase of NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations program. [46] |
Lunar Orbital Station [47] | Roscosmos | TBD | after 2030 [48] | |||
Artificial Gravity Station | Vast | Private | 40 | 2035 | 1400 m3 | [26] |
Japanese Space Station Module (Mitsui) | JAXA|Mitsui & Co. | TBA | TBD | TBD | Japan's spaceflight agency, JAXA, announced in July 2024 that has contracted Mitsui & Co. to develop a concept for a new space station module for eventual flight and docking to an American private space station as yet to be determined as of the initial announcement. [49] [50] [51] |
Two types of space stations have been flown: monolithic and modular. Monolithic stations consist of a single vehicle and are launched by one rocket. Modular stations consist of two or more separate vehicles that are launched independently and docked on orbit. Modular stations are currently preferred due to lower costs and greater flexibility. [52] [53]
A space station is a complex vehicle that must incorporate many interrelated subsystems, including structure, electrical power, thermal control, attitude determination and control, orbital navigation and propulsion, automation and robotics, computing and communications, environmental and life support, crew facilities, and crew and cargo transportation. Stations must serve a useful role, which drives the capabilities required.[ citation needed ]
Space stations are made from durable materials that have to weather space radiation, internal pressure, micrometeoroids, thermal effects of the sun and cold temperatures for long periods of time. They are typically made from stainless steel, titanium and high-quality aluminum alloys, with layers of insulation such as Kevlar as a ballistics shield protection. [54]
The International Space Station (ISS) has a single inflatable module, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, which was installed in April 2016 after being delivered to the ISS on the SpaceX CRS-8 resupply mission. [55] [56] This module, based on NASA research in the 1990s, weighs 1,400 kilograms (3,100 lb) and was transported while compressed before being attached to the ISS by the space station arm and inflated to provide a 16 cubic metres (21 cu yd) volume. Whilst it was initially designed for a 2 year lifetime it was still attached and being used for storage in August 2022. [57] [58]
The space station environment presents a variety of challenges to human habitability, including short-term problems such as the limited supplies of air, water, and food and the need to manage waste heat, and long-term ones such as weightlessness and relatively high levels of ionizing radiation. These conditions can create long-term health problems for space-station inhabitants, including muscle atrophy, bone deterioration, balance disorders, eyesight disorders, and elevated risk of cancer. [59]
Future space habitats may attempt to address these issues, and could be designed for occupation beyond the weeks or months that current missions typically last. Possible solutions include the creation of artificial gravity by a rotating structure, the inclusion of radiation shielding, and the development of on-site agricultural ecosystems. Some designs might even accommodate large numbers of people, becoming essentially "cities in space" where people would reside semi-permanently. [60]
Molds that develop aboard space stations can produce acids that degrade metal, glass, and rubber. Despite an expanding array of molecular approaches for detecting microorganisms, rapid and robust means of assessing the differential viability of the microbial cells, as a function of phylogenetic lineage, remain elusive. [61]
Like uncrewed spacecraft close to the Sun, space stations in the inner Solar System generally rely on solar panels to obtain power. [62]
Space station air and water is brought up in spacecraft from Earth before being recycled. Supplemental oxygen can be supplied by a solid fuel oxygen generator. [63]
The last military-use space station was the Soviet Salyut 5, which was launched under the Almaz program and orbited between 1976 and 1977. [64] [65] [66]
Space stations have harboured so far the only long-duration direct human presence in space. After the first station, Salyut 1 (1971), and its tragic Soyuz 11 crew, space stations have been operated consecutively since Skylab (1973–1974), having allowed a progression of long-duration direct human presence in space. Long-duration resident crews have been joined by visiting crews since 1977 (Salyut 6), and stations have been occupied by consecutive crews since 1987 with the Salyut successor Mir. Uninterrupted occupation of stations has been achieved since the operational transition from the Mir to the ISS, with its first occupation in 2000. The ISS has hosted the highest number of people in orbit at the same time, reaching 13 for the first time during the eleven day docking of STS-127 in 2009. [67]
The duration record for a single spaceflight is 437.75 days, set by Valeri Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995. [68] As of 2021 [update] , four cosmonauts have completed single missions of over a year, all aboard Mir.
Many spacecraft are used to dock with the space stations. Soyuz flight T-15 in March to July 1986 was the first and as of 2016, only spacecraft to visit two different space stations, Mir and Salyut 7. [69]
The International Space Station has been supported by many different spacecraft.
The Tiangong space station is supported by the following spacecraft:
The Tiangong program relied on the following spacecraft.
The Mir space station was in orbit from 1986 to 2001 and was supported and visited by the following spacecraft:
Research conducted on the Mir included the first long term space based ESA research project EUROMIR 95 which lasted 179 days and included 35 scientific experiments. [108]
During the first 20 years of operation of the International Space Station, there were around 3,000 scientific experiments in the areas of biology and biotech, technology development, educational activities, human research, physical science, and Earth and space science. [109] [110]
Space stations provide a useful platform to test the performance, stability, and survivability of materials in space. This research follows on from previous experiments such as the Long Duration Exposure Facility, a free flying experimental platform which flew from April 1984 until January 1990. [111] [112]
On the International Space Station, guests sometimes pay $50 million to spend the week living as an astronaut. Later, space tourism is slated to expand once launch costs are lowered sufficiently. By the end of the 2020s, space hotels may become relatively common.[ citation needed ]
As it currently costs on average $10,000 to $25,000 per kilogram to launch anything into orbit, space stations remain the exclusive province of government space agencies, which are primarily funded by taxation. In the case of the International Space Station, space tourism makes up a small portion of money to run it.
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts, cosmonauts (Russian), or taikonauts (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or spacefarers.
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes.
The Salyut programme was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissance space stations over a period of 15 years, from 1971 to 1986. Two other Salyut launches failed. In one respect, Salyut had the space-race task of carrying out long-term research into the problems of living in space and a variety of astronomical, biological and Earth-resources experiments, and on the other hand, the USSR used this civilian programme as a cover for the highly secretive military Almaz stations, which flew under the Salyut designation. Salyut 1, the first station in the program, became the world's first crewed space station.
Soyuz is a series of spacecraft which has been in service since the 1960s, having made more than 140 flights. It was designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs. It is launched atop the similarly named Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Human spaceflight programs have been conducted, started, or planned by multiple countries and companies. Until the 21st century, human spaceflight programs were sponsored exclusively by governments, through either the military or civilian space agencies. With the launch of the privately funded SpaceShipOne in 2004, a new category of human spaceflight programs – commercial human spaceflight – arrived. By the end of 2022, three countries and one private company (SpaceX) had successfully launched humans to Earth orbit, and two private companies had launched humans on a suborbital trajectory.
The TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft conceived in the late 1960s for resupply flights to the military Almaz space station.
The Shuttle–Mir program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States that involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station Mir, Russian cosmonauts flying on the Shuttle, and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to allow American astronauts to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir.
The Tiangong program is China's space program to create a modular space station, comparable to Mir. This program is independent and unconnected to any other international space-active countries. The program is part of the China Manned Space Program that began in 1992. The core module of the Tiangong space station, the Tianhe was finally launched on 29 April 2021 marking the start of the Tiangong Space program deployment.
Tiangong, officially the Tiangong space station, is a permanently crewed space station constructed by China and operated by China Manned Space Agency. Tiangong is a modular design, with modules docked together while in low Earth orbit, between 340 and 450 km above the surface. It is China's first long-term space station, part of the Tiangong program and the core of the "Third Step" of the China Manned Space Program; it has a pressurised volume of 340 m3, slightly over one third the size of the International Space Station. The space station aims to provide opportunities for space-based experiments and a platform for building capacity for scientific and technological innovation.
The China Manned Space Program, also known as Project 921 is a space program developed by the People's Republic of China and run by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) under the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission, designed to develop and enhance human spaceflight capabilities for China. It was approved on 21 September 1992 and has been in operation ever since. The CMS commander and director are currently Xu Xueqiang and Zhou Jianping respectively; the latter has held this position since 2006, after taking over from Wang Yongzhi, who served as the first director from 1992 to 2006.
Tiangong-1 was China's first prototype space station. It orbited Earth from September 2011 to April 2018, serving as both a crewed laboratory and an experimental testbed to demonstrate orbital rendezvous and docking capabilities during its two years of active operational life.
The year 2011 saw a number of significant events in spaceflight, including the retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle after its final flight in July 2011, and the launch of China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, in September. A total of 84 orbital launches were conducted over the course of the year, of which 78 were successful. Russia, China and the United States conducted the majority of the year's orbital launches, with 35, 19 and 18 launches respectively; 2011 marked the first year that China conducted more successful launches than the United States. Seven crewed missions were launched into orbit during 2011, carrying a total of 28 astronauts to the International Space Station. Additionally, the Zenit-3F and Long March 2F/G carrier rockets made their maiden flights in 2011, while the Delta II Heavy made its last.
The Orbital Piloted Assembly and Experiment Complex was a 2009–2017 proposed third-generation Russian modular space station for low Earth orbit. The concept was to use OPSEK to assemble components of crewed interplanetary spacecraft destined for the Moon, Mars, and possibly Saturn. The returning crew could also recover on the station before landing on Earth. Thus, OPSEK could form part of a future network of stations supporting crewed exploration of the Solar System.
Docking and berthing of spacecraft is the joining of two space vehicles. This connection can be temporary, or partially permanent such as for space station modules.
Tianhe, officially the Tianhe core module, is the first module to launch of the Tiangong space station. It was launched into orbit on 29 April 2021, as the first launch of the final phase of Tiangong program, part of the China Manned Space Program.
The politics of the International Space Station have been affected by superpower rivalries, international treaties, and funding arrangements. The Cold War was an early factor, overtaken in recent years by the United States' distrust of China. The station has an international crew, with the use of their time, and that of equipment on the station, being governed by treaties between participant nations.
The year 2022 witnessed the number of launches of SpaceX's Falcon rocket family surpassing the CNSA's Long March rocket family, making the United States the country with the highest number of launches in 2022 instead of China. This year also featured the first successful launch of Long March 6A, Nuri, Angara 1.2, Vega C, Kinetica-1, and Jielong-3. National space agencies' activities in this year was also affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which led to tensions between Roscosmos and Western space agencies, leading to threats of ending collaboration on the International Space Station (ISS), and resulting in several delays on various space missions.